Another Day, Another Life
by Dark Ice
Summary: Discontinued.
1. You Know Things Are Going Wrong When

Dark Ice ~ Hey it's me again! Well, I've just finished my last two exams of the year, and I'm pretty sure I've bombed one of 'em. XP... But there's nothin' much I can do about it now, can I? (looks really worried about having to repeat the course)

Palmy ~ (puts authoress in a headlock) Damn straight! 

Dark Ice ~ (from the headlock) Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Everyone, this is one of muses, Palmy. From now on, she's going to help me keep things in check, so that I don't mess up too often. 

Palmy ~ And I'm the one helping Dee with her new fic, 'cause she ran into a major writer's block with her last one (Stupid, Creepy House) and she didn't have a muse to help her finish it. 

Dark Ice ~ (still in a headlock) Ahem. Yes well, when I figure out how I'm gonna finish it, I will. Anywho, I hope that you all enjoy this new fic. 

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or anything in that area related to it. Anything else that may seem familiar (i.e. characters not belonging to Gundam Wing, situations/events that occur in the story) is completely out of coincidence. I only own the characters that I have created, which are not found in the original Gundam Wing series. Umm... I think that's all... remind of anything else that I might've forgotten mention, wouldja?

Palmy ~   -__-U

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**Chapter 1: You Know Things Are Going Wrong When...**

     "Hey, Heero, it's almost time to leave. D'you think we should wake Duo up now?"

     "He shouldn't be going anywhere in his condition. He'll simply hinder us."

     "Are you sure? He's been sleeping even before we finished dinner. He should be feeling better by now...?"

     Trowa came out of Duo's room. No one had even noticed that he had gone in. He had a peculiar look on his face. Quatre frowned at his expression. "There's nothing the matter, is there, Trowa?"

     Trowa smiled briefly. "No, it's nothing serious. It's just that, apparently, our invincible Shinigami has gone and caught the flu. I've just checked his temperature, and he's got all the symptoms. We should just let him rest."

     Wufei hmphed. "How did that happen?" Folding his arms across his chest, he leaned against the hallway wall. "I thought we were all supposed to be inoculated against all common viruses, not to mention the fact that the professors were supposed to make sure the pilots were in top physical condition."

     Trowa simply shook his head. "I'm not sure...but all I know is, we cannot bring Duo on this reconnaissance mission. He'll have to stay here."

     Quatre chuckled. "I can't believe a bit of flu has Duo down." He went into Duo's room, which would be completely dark but for the sliver of light coming from a crack in the curtain. Duo was snoring, spread-eagled on the bed, surrounded by a fortress of blankets and pillows. Trowa's handiwork, of course. He placed a cooling hand on Duo's burning forehead and spoke to him softly. "Hey Duo... just wanted to let you know, the other guys and I are leaving for the mission now. Both Heero and Trowa say that you're to stay here and rest. Don't worry about a thing... we'll have everything covered. Just get better soon, 'kay?" He smiled when Duo grunted in response; he probably had no idea of what he had just said. Quatre lifted his hand away from Duo's forehead, putting a cold compress in its place. Then he left the room quietly, shutting the gently behind him.

     He found the rest of the G-pilots waiting by the front door. "Is he all right?" asked Heero. 

     "Yeah, he'll be fine. I'm positive Duo can take care of himself. I doubt that anything can go wrong if he'll be asleep for the rest of the evening. Let's go."

     Wufei was the last one out. As he closed the door and followed Heero and Quatre to the car, he could be heard muttering darkly to himself, "Maxwell staying in one place? For the whole night? I should probably start counting how many things can go wrong..."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ (An hour later) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

     Duo rubbed his eyes and sighed. This was pathetic. And to go with the pathetic-ness, he coughed weakly. Here he was in vacation hot spot, Hawaii, and he was stuck indoors with the friggin' flu. 

     "AHH – CHOOOO!!!"

     Damn this stupid flu. And damn this stupid virtual pinball game. He had "borrowed" Heero's laptop, in hopes of amusing himself while the other four pilots were doing... whatever it was that they were doing. He thought that he heard someone tell him where they were going – maybe it was Quatre – but his head was too stuffed up to remember. 

     He sneezed violently several seven times. He sighed again and fell back on his pillows in exhaustion. Grabbing a tissue from the box beside him, Duo leaned over drowsily to check the time. "Grreaaat... it's still 7:20. Hey wait a sec, wasn't it 7:20 ten minutes ago?" 

     After blowing his nose in an acceptable imitation of a goose honk, Duo turned back to the treacherous laptop. So far he had lost multiple rounds of solitaire, hearts, backgammon, parcheesi, minesweeper, and now pinball, as an addition to the list. Why did Heero have so many dumb games on his laptop anyway? Ah, well... it didn't matter. The point was, this wasn't how he planned to spend his time in Hawaii. Even going on the mission with Heero as the "leader" was way better than vegetating in bed.

     Duo bolted up, but because of his weakened state, he immediately fell back down. Now he remembered! The rest of the guys had gone to scope out the OZ base located here in Hawaii. According to the last transmission from Dr. J, this base was supposedly supervising the construction of OZ's own version of a Gundam: the mobile-doll, Sagittarius. The mission was to find the base, eliminate the base, and destroy all traces of the Sagittarius. 

     He struggled against the blankets and pillows surrounding him as he tried to get out of bed. Going on a mission without him, eh? Tch, yeah right! Flu or no flu, they weren't going to leave Duo Maxwell behind!

     Duo stumbled over to the bathroom and changed out of his pajamas into his trademark priest's uniform, collar and all, with the sleeves rolled up. He pulled his brush through his long chestnut hair and twisted it into a braid, then slapped a black, unmarked cap onto his head. In minutes, he looked as if he was ready for a night on a mission. All he needed to complete the look was a hot mode of transportation. But the guys had taken the car, and Trowa was using the motorcycle. Duo attempted to snort, which didn't work due to his congested sinus. Typical. They didn't even bother thinking about whether Duo had to get around or not. Now he'd just have to take the bus. 

     A half hour later, Duo found himself stumbling off the bus, and onto the boardwalk, at the closest beach to the boys' safe house. As the bus pulled away, he staggered over to a nearby bench. _Oh, geez,_ thought Duo, as he rubbed circles around his temples. _Why didn't I just stay in bed? My head hurts._ He let his head fall back onto the top of the backrest as he slouched on the bench and groaned, to prove just how miserable he was. Squeezing his eyes shut, he hoped to carry out two objectives: to shut out the pounding going on inside his head, and to somehow teleport himself back to his bed. Neither was the result.

     "Are you okay, mistah?"

     Duo jumped up at the sound of the voice. He looked around, and saw a slight movement in the lower area of his peripheral vision. Looking down he saw a small girl, about six or seven years old, standing before him. He knew that there was only one person standing there, but it looked like two or three. Shaking his head a bit, he tried to clear his vision. She looked up at him with wide eyes, like any little kid would at the sight of a big person being sick. 

     "Yeah, don't worry kiddo, I'm fine." Duo's nose twitched as he slumped back down onto the bench.

      Her short pigtails of silky black hair continued to bounce back and forth after shaking her head once. "But mistah, your nose is all red an' you were makin' lotsa funny noises, like you had a really bad tummy ache." She kept on fidgeting her hands around as she spoke, with the colours of her yellow t-shirt and denim overall shorts matching her movements. Peeking over her back were the fuzzy ears of what appeared to be a teddy bear. Then, she tugged a couple of times at the straps on her shoulders restlessly, and Duo could see that it was a teddy bear backpack. 

     Duo patted her head and gave her a smile. _Cute kid._ "Hey I'm big person. I know how to look after myself," he lied. 

     The young girl frowned. "But you're sick, mistah," she insisted. "An' when you're sick, you gots t'stay at _home_."

     Duo opened his mouth to say something, but then he turned away from the girl, and grabbing his handkerchief, he sneezed. "AHH – CHOOOOO!" After he blew his nose a couple of times, he faced the girl. She had the I- know- I'm- right- and- you're- wrong smirk on her face. "Okay, you've got me, kid. Now maybe you should go back home to your mommy and daddy. I'm sure they're wondering where you are right now." Duo began to feel uncomfortable as the little girl's face fell. _Great, now what did I say wrong?_

     Duo tried to put on a serious face, in place of the drowsy-looking one he had on. "What's wrong?"

     The little girl looked away from Duo's concerned gaze as she shuffled her running shoe clad feet. "Idunhaveamummyandaddy," she mumbled.

     His heart sank as soon as the words came out of her mouth. He should have known this was coming. It wasn't normal for a little kid to be walking around all by herself after dark; no parents in their right minds would allow it. He should have expected something like this, on an island crawling with OZ troops and rebels. Duo scrambled for a way out of this awkward situation. "Well, then... you've got to have a home, right? I'll help you find your way back if you're lost."

     She shook her head. "I don't have one." She looked up at him. Her eyes were welled with tears that wouldn't fall, and she bit her bottom lip to keep herself from crying. "Sorry mistah. I didn' mean t'bothah you. I'll go away now." Then she turned and fled from Duo, running as quickly as if all the horrors from her nightmares were chasing after her. 

     "No, wait! Don't go!" Duo called after her, but it was pointless. All he could see was her scruffy teddy-bear backpack bouncing up and down after her in the distance, receding into the darkness.

     Duo felt like kicking himself in the head. Why'd he have to go and open his big yap? Now he made a little kid – who was concerned just about his health – upset and run away, and without anyone to look after her. Duo just stood there, mentally bashing himself for a few minutes, when a high-pitched scream shattered the calm night air. It came from the same direction as where the kid had run off too. "How do I do these things?" wondered Duo through gritted teeth, as he sprinted towards the source of the screams. _I don't know anyone else who can, in the mere space of five minutes, change his priorities from looking for his buds to help them on a mission to gain world peace, to looking for a kid he suddenly feels responsible for because he made her upset._

     Even though he had only been running for a few metres, Duo was already breathing heavily. _Forget this flu,_ _I've gotta help this kid,_ he thought fiercely as he heard another piercing scream. _If she's hurt, I don't think I could ever forgive myself._

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Dark Ice ~ Well then...

Palmy ~ Yes, well then....

Dark Ice ~ I have no idea what I can say at this point, in order to follow my new tradition of random blurbs, so I'll just skip that. 

Palmy ~ Good idea.

Dark Ice ~ This chapter is short, I know, but it is only the first chapter after all. So now that you've read it, tell me what you think; how I can improve, what needs to be added, what needs to be taken away...in other words, please review or flame! And if you're flaming, try to stay away from using any extremely bad language. Much appreciated.  =) 


	2. Finding the Past

Dark Ice ~ Heyhey. I'm back again, and with a new chapter. Sorry for the delay, but I was having trouble writing this. There's a sudden change in mood here, and I tried to make the transition as subtle as I could, but it didn't turn out so well. That is according to my reliable editor and my creative critic. Otherwise known as my sis and bro. 

Chuckles ~ Whadja put us in here for?

Dark Water ~ Um, hey...

Dark Ice ~ shrugs Eh. Just felt like mentioning you guys.

Palmy ~  -__-U  Way to be random, huh?

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. I only own stuff that does not exist in the original Gundam Wing, a toothbrush and a Mashi Maro plushie. Anything that may seem familiar (i.e. characters not belonging to Gundam Wing, situations/events that occur in the story) is completely out of coincidence. So don't sue me... please.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Chapter 2: Finding the Past 

     Duo saw the little girl on her knees, with her hands clapped over her ears as she keened on without showing any sign of quitting. Tears were streaming down her face, flowing from eyes that were squeezed shut. Duo slowed down from his sprint, as he tried to think of a way to approach the distressed child. He crouched down in front of her, facing the direction of the road. Tentatively, he put a hand on her shuddering shoulder and held out a clean handkerchief to her. "Hey, are you okay?" _Geez, dumb enough question for ya, Maxwell? _"Wanna tell your buddy Duo what's wrong?"

     The young girl looked up at Duo. Her eyes were filled with so much fear that he thought that she was in pain. In a voice so faint that he could barely hear, she whispered. "B-behind you. On the beach."

     Duo handed her the handkerchief, and slowly straightened up. It seemed as though no one else was around, and an eerie silence settled over the two. It couldn't have been an attacker that thoroughly terrorized the girl – there was no one here but them – so it must have been something else. Rubbing his feverish forehead, he stood up, and turned around to look at the beach. It was bathed in the red light of a setting sun. And there, in plain sight, were three dead men covered in bullet holes, lying sprawled on the bloodstained sand. Duo looked away in disgust. _Probably OZ's own fancy execution for rebels. But how could they just leave the bodies in plain sight?_

     He gathered the hysterical child in his arms. _Better get her outta here, _Duo thought, as he hoisted the girl onto his back to carry her piggyback style. Her screaming had subsided into quiet sobs. _Can't understand why she was crying so hard though. I get the screaming, but you couldn't really make out all the features to actually know who they are. So she couldn't have recognized them. _

     Duo smiled as he heard her breathing change from whimpering sniffles to the steady breaths of a sleeper. He sniffed as he felt a sneeze tickle his schnoz. Moving slowly down the road with his light burden, Duo let his mind wander off into his past...

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_     The little boy scurried behind a woman and peeked out from behind her legs. "Mommy, who are dese people?"_

     _The lady turned away from the large bay window through which they were watching the outside world, and smiled kindly at her son. "Honey, they're just soldiers. See their uniforms?" The lad nodded, causing chestnut brown locks to fall in front of his violet eyes. "Well, they're here because they want to ask Mommy and Daddy some questions." She bent down until she was eye-to-eye with the wide-eyed boy. Her light voice was replaced by a more serious tone. "Now honey, look at me. Mommy wants you to stay in your bedroom until Mommy or Daddy say it's okay to come out. Do you understand? Yes?" The woman hugged the boy when he nodded. "There's Mommy's good boy! C'mon, give Mommy your hand."_

_     The young lad held on to his mother's hand as they walked down the hallway to his room. The woman opened a door that led to a room with a child's sense of décor, and toys strewn all across the hardwood floor. She made a tutting sound. "Honey, how about you put all your toys back to where they belong, while you wait for us, okay? It'll give you something to do to pass the time. You need to be neat and tidy, so that you won't trip over something and hurt yourself." The boy nodded silently, with eyes that were wet with tears. "Honey, what's wrong? Are you hurt?"_

_     He shook his head, and fell into his mother's waiting embrace. She could feel his tears soaking into the shoulder of her shirt. Rubbing his small back comfortingly, she tried to console him. "Honey, don't worry. Mommy and Daddy will come back, all right? You just stay right here, and Nanny will take care of you. But don't leave this room, whatever happens." Her eyes looked pleadingly into his. "Promise me, okay?"_

_     The boy's reply was muffled against her shoulder. "Promise," he whispered. "You promise to come back, right?"_

_     A troubled look shadowed the woman's features for an instant, and disappeared just as quickly as it came. "Honey, I promise. I'll come straight back here as soon as Mommy and Daddy are finished talking with the soldiers."_

     "Ma'am?" A voice from below. Footsteps could be heard ascending the wooden staircase. Three sharply clad soldiers stood in the hallway, looking directly into the child's room. "We are here to escort you and your husband to the base. We leave immediately." 

_     "My husband is downstairs," the woman replied irritably. "If you could just wait by the front door, we will be out in a minute."_

_     "Very well." The soldiers about-faced and marched back down the stairs. _

_     The woman gave the boy a final hug and a kissed his brow. "Be a good boy, and we'll be back together soon, " she whispered. Then she let him go. Picking her purse up, she descended to the main floor and went out the front door with the soldiers and her husband. She pulled out her handkerchief to dab her eyes, never looking back at the house once, leaving the boy to stare silently at the place where he last held his mother..._

_     The boy was playing with some of his toys, when his nanny suddenly came bursting through the door. _

_      "Come on, we must get you out of here straight away!"_

_     The boy rose up slowly. "Why? What's going on? Where are we going?"_

_      "No time to explain," said the nanny hurriedly, as she gathered together a change of clothes and a couple of toys for the boy and packed the items into a duffel bag. "The soldiers are coming back, and that's all I have time to tell you. Now put your jacket on." She grabbed onto his hand and led him to the front door._

_     The boy's violet eyes began to grow watery. "But Mommy told me to stay in my room. Where're Mommy and Daddy? How come they're not coming back with the soldiers?"_

_     The middle-aged woman paused from what she was doing. The blanket of pity around her heart seemed to smother all other emotions. She looked pityingly at the small child, who was wrought with worry _[1] _for his parents, and at such a young age. Placing the duffel bad by the front door, she pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry sweetie. I-I don't how to say this... but Mommy and Daddy aren't coming back. They had to go somewhere, far away."_

_     "Where? Where did the soldiers take them?"  The boy struggled out of his nanny's arms, trying to grasp what she was telling him. Tears were spilling down his cheeks, unchecked. _

_     She tried to say something to comfort him, when the screech of tires on the driveway made her change her mind. Grabbing hold of the child's hand in one hand and the bag in the other, she ran towards the side door. Taking a quick peek around the door, the nanny led her charge out onto the back street. _

_     Not a moment later, the house exploded from the inside, throwing the woman and the child several meters away from what was the house. Before the boy blacked out, he caught a glimpse of everything that was precious to his little heart being consumed in insatiable inferno...   _

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     "Mistah... " A small, wavering voice brought Duo back from the past.

     Duo blinked a couple of times, trying to get his bearings. He berated himself for even thinking about comparing his own experiences with those of this young girl. _Man, I can't believe I just drifted off like that, _thought Duo. _I've gotta stop thinking about it. What's past is past, and can't be undone. _

     He let the little girl off his back. Looking down at the little girl standing next to him, he studied her face for a moment. Her eyes were now tinged with red, as was her nose, but she had stopped crying.

     Holding out his hand to her, Duo gave her a brief grin. "I suppose you didn't want to stay there, right?" She nodded quickly, and latched onto his outstretched hand. _What am I doing, anyway? I can't take her to her home, she doesn't have one... but if I take her to the safe house, she could be a liability to our mission... and we'd have t'walk to wherever we're going, unless there's a bus running this late... might be able t'call a cab..._

     They reached the bus stop where they had first met. Not a single word passed between them during the walk, Duo busy with figuring out what he was going to do, and the girl allowing the quiet that he needed. It became obvious that the girl was aware of the dilemma presented to Duo when they stopped at the bench for a moment.

     The young girl took a deep breath. "Um, mistah," the girl said slowly, "thanks for all your help. But you don't have to waste your time on me. I'm sure you have other things to do. I-I'll just go...and – "

     "I want to help," Duo interrupted. "I'd be ignoring my duties as a citizen of this planet we call Earth." And then, an idea came out of nowhere and implanted itself into his brain. Duo changed his voice to what he thought was a loud, deep and resounding hero-voice. "I am here to save damsels in distress, kittens stuck in trees, and kids when they've fallen asleep!" _Geez, where the heck did that come from?_ "Now, am I right in guessing that we both want to forget what we saw back there?"

     The young girl, unsure of where this would lead to, was hesitant. "Yeah..."

     Duo beamed at her. "So how 'bout we go get us some ice creams?" _Well, this isn't a solution, but it'll at least buy me some more time to figure out what I'm should do._

     They started off to the nearest ice cream parlour, and Duo was swinging his arms in a carefree sort of manner. He winked down at his new charge. "There are three rules that you have to follow if I'm gonna buy you an ice cream. First, I want you put away your sad face and put on a happy one." His nose twitched. "Second, make sure you're not standing in front of me when I sneeze or cough – I don't want you catching my flu – "

     "So you are sick," muttered the girl.

     Duo continued as if he had not heard her. "– And third, you've got to stop calling me 'mistah'."

     She frowned. "Then what should I call you by?"

     "You can just call me Duo Maxwell." His nose tingled again. This time, he couldn't suppress it. 

     "AHH – CHOOOO!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

     Out of sight from the pair, a blacked-out van slowly trailed the teenaged boy and his child companion. Inside, one of the soldiers monitoring the surveillance system in the van them hailed the OZ base.

     "Captain, we have confirmation of the presence of one Gundam pilot. He has seen the area where we executed the three rebels. He is currently heading northeast, in the company of a child."

     A partially shadowed face appeared on the monitor. The image steepled his fingers. "Excellent. Continue observing him. I want to know just how much the Gundam pilots know about us. Make sure that he does not detect you. Report to me every half hour. Is that understood?"

     "Yes Sir!" The soldier saluted smartly. The person on the screen nodded once, and then the screen went blank.

     The captain continued staring at the screen of the vidphone. He allowed himself a small grin. Everything was going quite smoothly. 

     "Captain Crux."

     Without turning around, he already knew who the speaker was. "What do you want, Professor D?"

     A man in a white lab coat stepped from the dim entranceway into the glow of fluorescent lights. His twin scars outlining both jawbones gleamed slightly under the lights. "Yes, well, I heard that a child was reported to be accompanying the Gundam pilot found here, am I not correct?"

     The captain looked at his nails inattentively. "What has this to do with our plan?"

     The professor's eyes glinted cunningly. "You know that the Gundam pilots were all recruited by the engineers from the colonies. The way that each of them think is already trained and set, making it a bit more difficult to change their perspectives to see from our view. What we need is fresh blood; someone that has already been tainted with death but has not taken part in the killing."

     Captain Crux swung his chair around and frowned at the professor. "I'm not quite sure as to what you are implying."

       Professor D smirked. "Ahh, Captain. Soon you shall see. In the meantime, if you plan to capture that Gundam pilot, make you sure that you get the child as well."

     The captain turned back to the monitors on the console and waved a hand in dismissal. "Whatever it is your planning, Professor, it had better not interfere with finding a pilot for the Sagittarius."

     As he left, the professor's grin widened. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that. I have every intention of getting a pilot to join us. Once I've turned this certain _individual _into a pilot, that is." 

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[1] ~ Whoa! Five "w" words in a row. That's a personal record! Thought I'd just mention that.

Dark Ice ~ So what do you two think? 

Dark Water ~ Good.

Dark Ice ~ anime face fall Gee, thanks. I can really work on improving my story with one-word criticisms.

Dark Water ~ It was weird.

Dark Ice ~ face fall, including Chuckles That was a lot of help.

Chuckles ~ shoving Dark Water out the door You can see that our bro has no idea of what constructive criticism is. 

Palmy ~ So now that you've finished reading... Review! Flame! Whatever! Just stay away from any extremely bad language.


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